


where they claimed my name

by sandyk



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Grief, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Steve did not go back in time and stay there, but Tony did die, super background Captain America
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23532364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/pseuds/sandyk
Summary: After the Blip, Peter has to adjust to his new world. It's a minor, really, but it's really weird that during the Blip, everyone, including Mr. Stark, just got over being mad at Captain America. Peter's not there yet.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	where they claimed my name

**Author's Note:**

> For the trope bingo spot friends to enemies. Title from Solange Knowles's don't you wish me well. not mine, no profit garnered. Thanks A!

It was weird, everything was weird, Peter thought. He'd eaten everything on his tray so he didn't have food to play with, but he would have. The post-Blip world was a fucking mess, in Peter's opinion. It was a popular opinion among people who were Blipped. MJ was in the minority, she found everything fascinating. She treated it like an experiment and she was getting to see all the results, all the data. She was removed from it, somehow. She didn't remember dying. Neither did Ned. Or Aunt May. 

Peter remembered. He'd fought. 

Ned and MJ were at their mandatory counseling. Somehow the school and some donors had found enough money to hire licensed therapists who hadn't been Blipped who could talk to the students every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Aunt May thought it was a fantastic idea. MJ and Ned seemed to think it was awesome. They thought it was okay. Peter didn't like it. 

His assigned therapist was okay. Nice person. They were very nice and probably really effective with people who hadn't actually been in the battle. 

Peter pushed away his tray and put his head down on his folded arms. Turned to the side, he could still see other students. Flash was laughing at something and then he caught Peter's eye and smirked. 

Someday, for fun, Peter was gonna just accidentally on purpose let it slip that he was worth more than Flash's family now. Pepper had explained that even before Thanos Mr. Stark had set aside a bunch of money for Peter. "You don't want the whole explanation of how trusts work and avoiding death taxes, I bet," she'd said. "He wasn't going to tell you until you were eighteen. At the same time he was going to tell you he was covering all your college expenses."

But it wasn't in Peter's name and so when he died, the money sat there. Now Peter wasn't dead, and Pepper had dealt with it all. 

Peter didn't really care. May was getting paid through the trust so she could set up her charity and organize people. That was the only part he cared about, really. That and his new computer. 

After decathlon practice, Peter and Ned and MJ sat outside on the steps. MJ said, "Did they call you about this adventure, dork?" She flashed her phone screen at him. It was a news story about the Avengers taking down some terrorist group that had high tech body armor and weapons. Captain America and the Falcon and War Machine. 

At some point, MJ had abandoned pretending she didn't know who Peter was and Peter stopped pretending he didn't like having her involved in everything. Peter said, "They don't really call me. I mean, they might, I guess. But I really only know know Rhodey anymore."

Ned said, "Peter, do you feel snubbed by Captain America?"

"Captain America is great," Peter said, a little meanly. 

"Isn't that weird?" MJ said tonelessly. "We missed the whole thing where he was a great big hero and won everyone over again. Not that everyone was judging him."

"All's forgiven," Peter said. 

"But not by Peter," Ned said. 

"No, I get it," Peter said. "He's a good guy. Rah rah."

"From Peter, that's cutting," MJ said. 

Peter went out as Spider-man all the time. He didn't use the Iron Spider, he preferred the regular suit. But it was off without Karen. He could really use having Karen back. 

It was really easy to get May to take them up to the lake house for the weekend. May and Pepper were total besties now. Right after the big battle, May was the one person in the room whose husband had died, after all. 

Morgan liked Peter. Also weird. Apparently Mr. Stark had talked about Peter all the time, calling Peter his kid. Morgan was pretty neat, it wasn't hard to act like an older brother if that's what she needed. After lunch, Peter asked Pepper if he could check out the garage. "That's where he had all the stuff, right? For the suits?"

"Yes," Pepper said. "I think Friday is still in there. He didn't install her in the house, because he was technically retired, but." Pepper laughed a little and rolled her eyes. 

Pepper had to open the door for him, but after that Peter found everything opened as soon as he touched it. Mr. Stark really had transferred most of it from the Compound and his lab in Manhattan. Peter hooked up his suit and scanned through the coding. The link to Karen had been broken when Peter and Tony were up in the ship. When Peter came back, it was never able to connect back up. 

Peter wasn't making a lot of progress. He said, "Friday? Are you still there?"

"Yes, kid," Friday said. 

"So you've just been hanging out," Peter said. "Me, too." He sighed. "Is Karen even recoverable?"

"Hmm," Friday said. Very not helpful. 

Peter started over. He went back to the beginning and had Friday show him the Karen set up. He should have called Ned. But Peter had been working on the suit with Mr. Stark in his labs for almost two years. Five years ago. Peter said, "Maybe you could be my therapist. The counsellor at school doesn't really get it."

"It's not an option," Friday said. 

"I know," Peter said. "This is nice, hanging out."

"It's nice to be useful," Friday said. 

Peter figured it out at some point. He hadn't been good at keeping track of time when he was in the lab. It took two hours after whenever that was until he definitely had Karen in the suit. "Hello again," he said, pulling on his mask. 

"Hello, Peter. I need some updating before you take me out."

"Will do," Peter said, taking off his mask and hooking up the cables to get it done quickly. "Friday, this will be done by, um, five pm Sunday?"

"Yes, it'll be done in fourteen hours," Friday said. "You should sleep now, kid."

"Got it," Peter said, getting up. He decided to sleep on the couch. Everyone else was already asleep and it seemed like way too much work to figure out which room he was supposed to stay in. Someone would wake him up eventually. Probably Morgan. 

Instead it was good ol' Steve. Captain America shaking his shoulder to wake him up. "Hey, Pete," he said. "Brunch time."

Peter covered his face and frowned. "Okay," he said. "Lemme shower and get dressed."

There was a whole crowd for brunch. Pepper had done the cooking and May had set the table. Steve and his perfect teeth were sitting at one end and Peter at the other. Morgan clambered up and sat right next to Peter on his chair. She was actually pretty great company. 

She also generally refused to really deal with Steve. Steve took it manfully and politely. 

After brunch, Peter took Morgan to the lake and helped her construct little boats to set out to float and then he'd jump in the lake and get them back for her. She would clap and say, "Good! Good! Thank you, bro."

"Got it, sis," he'd say. It felt good to say. 

He was shivering under a beach towel while Morgan worked on her absolutely last boat. "I'm gonna send this one way out."

"It's the absolutely last one, though," Peter said.

"Yup, yup," Morgan said. "Ugh, Steve is on the porch. I don't like him."

"He's a good guy," Peter said. He meant it. "Why don't you like him? I should have asked you that first before invalidating your feelings."

"He came to visit and then Daddy was gone," she said, concentrating on the sail on her boat. 

"Correlation isn't causation," Peter said. "Did you get that?"

Morgan frowned. 

Peter said, "Just because two things happen at the same time or one after the other, that doesn't mean that one thing caused the other. So now that you've said it out loud, you can be, like, okay, I need to get over it."

Morgan said, "You don't like him."

"Yeah, but I'm, like, a kid. I'm not even seventeen. I'm not a mature adult. Also, I don't like him because your dad didn't like him. Back before you were born. He got over it. I should, too," Peter said. 

"Daddy didn't like him," Morgan said. She pushed the boat out on the lake. 

"But he got over it. I wasn't there when he got over it but I saw them, that day and he clearly was over it. They were friends again," Peter said. He looked at the boat at the exact moment he remembered Captain America had really great hearing. Whatever, he thought. 

He waded into the lake and then swam to the boat. "It went really far," he shouted to Morgan. She stood up and clapped. 

He brought the boat back and handed it to Morgan. "We're going back now." He steered her shoulder. "You go inside, I need to check something in the garage." He bent down and kissed the top of her head. "We'll both be better because that's what your dad would want. I'm pretty sure."

Morgan rolled her eyes so hard he could feel it. "Come on," he said. 

She huffed and walked towards the house. Peter dried all the way off and went inside the garage. Friday said, "Hello, kid. Your suit is ready."

Peter detached all the cords and put on his mask. "Hey, Karen."

"Hello, Peter. I am now updated with the news, analyses, and software upgrades."

"That's awesome, Karen," Peter said. He took off his mask and folded it together with his suit. The garage was really different from Mr. Stark's labs. It definitely had a more homey feel. But Peter could see the bots resting in their docks, bits and pieces of suits, the same screwdrivers they always used to use. It all just made him miss Mr. Stark even more.

They used to work together in the lab at the Compound, which was now completely destroyed and had been remodeled after Mr. Stark retired here. They would talk sometimes, or mutter and sometimes they were silent and the music was playing. It had been a constant battle because Mr. Stark had the saddest taste in what MJ called white cock rock. "She said you should listen to music that has actual female voices in it, not just back up singers," Peter had said once. 

Mr. Stark had let Peter play one of his playlists that MJ had somewhat curated every other day they were in the lab. Turned out everyone loved Solange Knowles. Even Mr. Stark. 

Peter used to ask about Captain America, about Steve. Mostly, Mr. Stark sidestepped the question. Sometimes, if it was late, he'd talk about when they were actually friends. Mostly, Peter could tell he was upset. He could see it. But during the five years or so Peter was dead, everything had been made okay. 

He rubbed his eyes and tried to look a little less like he'd been sitting in the garage crying for over an hour. He stood up and grabbed his suit. Friday said, "Come back soon, kid. It's nice to have you around. Boss always thought so."

"Thanks, Friday," Peter said. 

When he went inside the house, Steve was thankfully gone. Peter could save being a mature teenager for another day. 

Pepper said, "Did you really tell Morgan that correlation doesn't mean causation?"

"Yes? She's really smart," Peter said. "I thought it was, I was trying to be helpful?"

"Oh, you were," Pepper said, smiling. "She used it as a reason she should be allowed to have cake for dinner. Because we don't know for sure that eating too much sugar makes her too hyper to go to bed."

"She is really smart," Peter said. He'd changed and packed his bag with his suit. He said, "Maybe we can come back soon? I think Friday and Morgan would like that."

"As long as we're considering Friday," May said. 

Pepper said, "You can always come. Call when you're ten minutes away and it will still be okay." 

"We're not doing that," May said. "But thank you."

He fell asleep on the drive home.


End file.
